The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
U.S. PatentsPat. No.Kind CodeIssue DatePatentee5,390,578Feb. 21, 1995Raymer4,073,211Feb. 14, 1978Jorgensen2008/0141842A1Jul. 7, 2008Leach
A conventional stringed musical instrument is normally an assembly of a neck and body in one piece. Many of the instruments are too large for convenient travel as hand luggage on airplanes, and must be checked with the airline and transported in the baggage hold of the airplane, subjecting the instruments to damage from rough handling and crushing. In order to allow carrying onboard as hand luggage, some of these instruments have a neck to body joint that allows folding and or separation of the two parts, thus reducing the length of the instrument to an acceptable size.
But, the instrument is relatively large and delicate, requiring care in handling while assembling and disassembling. Once the tension of the strings is released and the neck is folded, the neck with attached strings must be stored with the body of the instrument, if the strings remain attached to both. Care must be taken with the folded neck to keep from twisting or tangling the strings.
Therefore, it is advantageous to have a hinge that allows the neck to fold and then holds it and the body in the collapsed position for storage or packing, is sturdy, and that protects the strings from twisting or crimping.
It is better if this collapsed position keeps the parts together to reduce the size and volume of the instrument.
Several types of hinged necks have been proposed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,578 to Raymer (1995) proposes a folding guitar with a hinged neck. The neck pivots on an axis similar to my invention, but does not simultaneously and positively translate the neck away from the body. This system seems suited to solid body guitars since it requires modifying the shape of the top of the body to provide clearance for the neck. Such modification would alter the shape of the guitar body and also limit the positioning of electric pickup elements. It is known that acoustic guitar body shape, as well as placement of pickups in electric guitars is critical to tonal characteristics.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,211 to Jorgensen (1978) proposes a hinge whereby the neck folds straight down under the body of the instrument. This requires modifications to the underside of the body of the instrument to provide room for neck stowage and as stated above would alter the tonal characteristics of the instrument.
U.S. Patent 2008/0141842-A1 (2008) to Leach proposes using something similar to SOS hinges to allow the neck to fold straight up over the body, and provide clearance for the strings. The thickness of the hinge end of the neck and neck heel extends above the body even further due to the clearance provided for the strings by the hinge, and thus makes the collapsed instrument large and subject to damage.